Shoreham/Wading River High School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Rape

A 28-year-old Shoreham/Wading River High School teacher has admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old male student for a two-month span earlier this year.

Veronica Pezdan, a Holbrook resident and former part time mathematics teacher at the school, pleaded guilty Tuesday at Suffolk County court to a charge of third-degree rape.

The Shoreham-Wading River School District had said a staff member tipped off the district to the allegations, which triggered an internal investigation before Suffolk County police were contacted. Special Victims Section detectives later arrested the teacher as she drove home from the school.

Pezdan faces up to four years in prison, when she is sentenced on February 8. The school district, which noted that the teacher passed New York State background checks prior to being hired, was fired her immediately after her arrest.